Free Trade

No, Cutting Off Trade With Europe Would Not Make America Wealthier

Trump's zero-sum trade talk is wrongheaded and authoritarian.

Steven Greenhut | 9.18.2026 7:30 AM

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Americans are accustomed to Donald Trump's tall tales, as he recently told an improbable story about firemen lifting him out of the 9/11 rubble. We're also used to his unprincipled and irresponsible ideas, such as his recent promise to pay each American $5,000 if the GOP retains Congress after the midterms. That would add $1.35 trillion to the debt, by the way. Fortunately, he's as likely to make good on it as he was in paying out DOGE checks or even paying his own contractors.

My Republican friends haven't tired of this carnival barker act and tell me not to take him literally. However, sometimes the president details his policy views that seem too serious to ignore. For instance, he recently detailed his thinking on trade, which is the foundation of the administration's tariff policy.

Here's what he said at a press conference: "We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries. We lose with the European Union $200 billion a year. If I didn't trade with them, we'd lose nothing. Just one swipe of the pen. We lose with Mexico $195 billion a year…They have nothing we have to have. I mean, hot tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things."

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